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My first Oglethorpe Alternative Winter Break was amazing, relationship-building, eye-opening, and reflective. From January 3-8, ten Oglethorpe students and two staff members volunteered to help with disaster relief for damage caused by the April 2011 tornados that swept through Tuscaloosa, Ala. Although part of the city has been cleaned up and rebuilt, there are numerous communities that look like the storm passed through just yesterday.

During our first morning service project, we worked with Compassion Coalition to patch up a home that was previously destroyed by the tornado. We hammered trim to fill in an elderly woman’s bedroom cracks from the wall to the ceiling and covered up a hole in her floor. Hearing Vicki’s story was extremely heartbreaking and devastating as she lost eight people in the tornado, including her husband and her son. This was my most memorable moment of Alternative Winter Break because I saw the true strength that the people of Tuscaloosa possessed through such difficult times. To lose everything precious to you and still have hope for a better tomorrow finally put meaning behind my own mother’s words: “There is hope for the living.” Regardless of what few possessions Vicki had, or where she was living now, she had today and that was enough for her.

Pictured: Jacob Tadych ’14 helps Alicia Morris, an AmeriCorps volunteer at OU, make a side window.

Pictured: Anna Ethridge ’14 paints a new shed.

During that same afternoon, we volunteered with the Volunteer Reception Committee to pick up debris from and around a home that was destroyed by the tornado. Our group genuinely bonded over this experience as we became better acquainted with each other as well as the individual who had once lived in this home. We all put ourselves in the shoes of this woman and recognized how truly thankful we are to simply have a roof over our heads.

For the next three days, we worked with Habitat for Humanity to rebuild a home for a family who was displaced by the tornado. We met the mother, father and two children who would move into this home in less than three weeks, all because of our hard work. We were able to learn new construction skills all while helping a family who both needed and appreciated our efforts.

Pictured: "Our" Habitat for Humanity home

In addition to our daily service projects, throughout the week we participated in various teambuilding activities, reflections and presentations. We held discussions with native Tuscaloosa community members about preparations for the tornado, during the tornado and the rebuilding process. We even had the opportunity to speak with an individual who was part of the civil rights movement in Tuscaloosa. Learning more about the history of Tuscaloosa first-hand provided us all with insight that could not be read online or even in a book.

Pictured: OUr special handshake with some Tuscaloosa residents.

Volunteering with the nonprofit organizations and participating in the various group activities throughout the week helped us to grow together as a group and as individuals. If I can close on one piece of advice it would be to take advantage of opportunities where your surroundings are completely different; your ideas, passions, and talents can be exercised in such a way that personal growth can occur. Sometimes growth can happen in the most unlikely places.

OU students – if you’re interested in making a difference by participating in Alternative Spring Break (March 18-24, 2012), join us in the Center for Civic Engagement this Friday, January 27, 12-12:30 pm or contact Heather Staniszewski at hstan@oglethorpe.edu. Applications are also available NOW in the CCE or on PetrelNet.

To some, Allen Zow ’14 is the nice guy who rings you up in the OU bookstore. But, in about 10 years, he’ll be Doctor Zow to everyone.

At least that’s the plan, according to Allen, who has had his sights set on becoming a neurosurgeon since the age of seven. Allen, an economics major, was first inspired to pursue the profession after reading Gifted Hands, an autobiography about the life of Ben Carson, one of the most well-known neurosurgeons in the world. Carson, an African-American doctor who battled racism, learning difficulties, and a troubled inner-city upbringing, eventually became the Chief of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, MD.

“Although I was young, reading the book really inspired me. Dr. Carson had so many obstacles in his way and so many hurdles to climb…so I thought, if he could do it, so can I!”

With that, Allen set himself up to pursue one of medicine’s most rigorous and consuming fields—by researching the path to becoming a doctor and connecting with medical professionals in his hometown of Savannah, GA. At age 12, he seized the opportunity to shadow a robotics surgeon. And, when he was 16, after a long interview process, Allen began working in the operating room at St. Joseph’s/Candler Hospital in Savannah—a job that he held throughout high school and continued during his summers at home from college. He works as an ancillary services technician, and has been given increased responsiblity thoughout the years. His primary duties are to keep the operating room sanitized and clear of clutter during a procedure, retrieve blood from the blood bank, maintain the instruments, and shadow the doctors. Allen is quick to point out that he’s not a nurse, but his job is just as necessary for the operation to run smoothly.

“I am often on-call through the night,” said Allen. In high school, I once worked an 18-19 hour shift because we were needed at 2 o’clock in the morning. It’s a very hands-on job, and I’ve learned so much from actually being in the operating room and seeing what the doctors are doing. They will even explain what they’re doing and why…I think it’s the best way to learn whether it’s something you really want to do or not, and it’s certainly reinforced my goals.”

So, why the undergraduate major in economics?

“I’ve talked to a number of doctors who’ve told me that they wish they would have learned the business side of it more, so that they can better understand their finances,” said Allen, who wants to volunteer his medical skills internationally in the Doctors Without Borders program. “I don’t think my degree will be a problem…I’ve even met one doctor who was an Art major in college. So what I really want to do is be familiar with the whole spectrum of my profession, not only the medical side but also the business side. But, above all, my passion is helping people.”